The Lenoir County commissioners are working on getting things simplified for residents with inquiries and Vickie King is the new point of contact.

King, who became the new clerk of Lenoir County on March 10, was named at the commissioners’ meeting on March 17.

“I was excited to be afforded the opportunity to be chosen as a candidate,” King said.

Commissioner Linda Rouse Sutton said staff members did a great job handling responsibilities in the interim, but King will make things easier.

“It’s hard keeping up when you have different people involved with different things,” Sutton said. “There isn’t that one person to contact and it gets confusing at times. When you have a person of importance, you have consistency and the citizens can have a good point of contact. We’re real excited to have her.”

Lenoir County Manager Mike Jarman said King was a great choice.

“We’re very excited to have her on board,” Jarman said. “We felt like the way she handled herself in the interview, her experience and dedication to her previous jobs in the Lenoir County public school system would make her a great fit for the group.”

Born and raised in Plainfield, N.J., King was a graduate of Plainfield High School in 1980. Her first interaction with Lenoir County came in 1985, when she moved to be closer to her mother, who moved to the region two years prior.

King first started working in the Lenoir County school system in 2000 as a data manager at Savannah Middle School. In 2006, King transferred to Northwest Elementary and had the same job.

King said she applied for the clerk job because she was looking for a change.

“I had been in the school system for 14 years and wanted a different position so I could utilize my administrative skills more,” King said.

While working at Northwest, King took online classes at Kaplan University and received her degree in human services in 2010.

“After high school I started college, then stopped,” King said. “I always wanted to go back and pursue my degree, but I was raising a family and didn’t go back. One day, I decided to change that and applied to Kaplan in 2008. It wasn’t easy with me being a wife, grandmother and taking care of a grandchild. I also had sons in basketball, baseball and football, but I excelled anyway and got my degree at 50.”

King said she thinks her qualities will allow her to excel in her new profession.

“I believe my strong work ethic, faith, dedication, dependability, compassion and extensive experience as an office administrator will allow me to do the best job I can for Lenoir County,” King said.

Page 2 of 2 - Junious Smith III can be reached at 252-559-1077 and Junious.Smith@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JuniousSmithIII.